Amazon has a $25,000 prize pool for a US-only contest for publishing a game skills for Echo Buttons. There's also €50,000 in prizes in an Alexa Skills Challenge on Games for developers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Austria.

This contest for skills in English or German started at the end of August and skills must be submitted to the Games, Trivia and Accessories category in the Alexa Skills Store by October 17 and pass certification by October 25 to qualify. You can publish to both stores and increase your chance of winning one of the grand prizes of €50,000 or a bonus prize (€2,500).

The tips section on the Hackster.io contest site suggests that to boost the player experience it is worth integrating Echo Buttons to make a skill more interactive.

Echo buttons were originally unveiled last October to be shipped before the 2017 holiday season in the US. They illuminate and can be pressed to trigger a variety of play experiences powered by Alexa. The Gadgets Skill API was announced at the same time. It was however, April 2018 before the Beta was available. With this API, you can control and receive input from Echo Buttons to illuminate the buttons and react to button presses. You can create first-to-respond games, multiple choice games, sequence puzzles, sound effect generators, novelty experiences, and more.

The Echo Buttons Game Skills Contest invites developers to use the Gadgets Skill API to build an Echo Buttons game skill that educates and entertains Alexa customers. As Karen Yue puts it in the contest announcement:

We’re looking for skills that bring friends and family back for game night.

Skills will be judged on:

Quality, creativity, and originality of idea

Implementation including ease-of-use and performance.

Potential impact including its ability to educate and entertain

Accompanying submission package including the skill description and ID, video demo, and other materials

All the prizes are in the form of Amazon.com Gift Card. The Grand Prize for the Best Echo Buttons Game is $5,000 and four other finalist winners will receive $2,500. There is also a $2,000 prize for Best Echo Buttons Kids Game, for a skill directed to children under the age of 13. Prizes of $1,500 will be awarded for Best Echo Buttons Action Game and Best Echo Buttons Trivia Game Thefirst 150 Echo Buttons Games published as part of this contest will receive a 2-pack of Echo Buttons, with a bonus $100 Amazon.com Gift Card for the first 25 games published.

Amazon still seems on track to keep a majority share of global smart speaker market, which Global Market Insights claims is set to exceed exceed USD 30 billion by 2024 with global shipments are set to grow at over a compound annual growth rate of 33% between 2018 and 2024. In order to maintain its edge it aims to make ubiquitous, especially in areas where people spend most of their time, like the home and car, and it is rumored to have plans to release at least 8 new Alexa-powered devices, including a microwave oven, amplifier, receiver, subwoofer, and an in-car gadget, before the end of the year.

Will we soon see Gadgets Skill API being extended with skills to defrost a frozen leg of lamb or to warm a cup of milk to a specified temperature?

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